The City of Zanesville is updating its Planning and Zoning Code with edits to sections regarding regulation of signs and advertising displays to comply with a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

To fall in line with the ruling, the city is altering its policy, removing any content-based regulation. The city must instead promote "content neutrality" toward issuing sign permits.

Edits to the language of its Planning and Zoning Code are minimal, with only three major changes.

Firstly, the updated policy removes an entire section regarding what type content is allowed on each type of sign.

Secondly, the city can no longer enforce when an election or campaign sign must be taken down.

"If you want to put a sign in your yard and campaign for Mark Baker all year, you can," Community Development Director Jay Bennett said when explaining the changes

Under the old policy, election signs had to be taken down within 10 days following the election.

The third and most concerning change to some comes in regards to obscenity. Previously, the city's Planning and Zoning Code explicitly stated that "no sign or display shall contain words of pictures of obscene characters or of a character harmful to juveniles." In the new policy, that language has been removed.

Council member Mark Baker is concerned about a possible influx of obscene signs once the policy change goes into effect after council's approval.

Bennett reiterated that, while the city is able to regulate the size, shape and color of signs, it must remain content-neutral when it comes to issuing sign permits. City Law Director David Tarbert said there are other ways the city can handle obscenity, such as prosecuting criminal action.

Bennett said he has not heard of any questionable sign content since his time with the city.